Saturday, August 17, 2013

NYCHA tenants should be fingerprinted: Bloomberg

The
remarks from the mayor came during a weekly radio appearance on how to
keep the city's public housing safe. His comments were immediately
slammed by Democratic mayoral candidates, including Bill Thompson, who
said 'Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating
minorities like criminals.'

City public housing tenants should all be fingerprinted, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday, sparking an uproar from Democratic mayoral hopefuls.
“What we really should have is fingerprinting to get in," Bloomberg
said during his weekly appearance on “The John Gambling Show” on WOR-AM
as he spoke about ways to improve safety in public housing.RELATED: CITY TO FILE APPEAL ON STOP-AND-FRISK RULING ON FRIDAY
Within an hour, mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson likened the
fingerprinting idea to Bloomberg's stance on stop-and-frisk, and called
it "disrespectful" and "disgraceful."
"Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating
minorities like criminals,” Thompson, a former city controller, said in a
statement. “Mayor Bloomberg wants to make New Yorkers feel like
prisoners in their own homes."

PAUL BUCKOWSKI/ALBANY TIMES UNION

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said
Friday during a radio appearance that tenants of New York City Housing
Authority buildings should be fingerprinted to improve safety.

The candidate, polling third among likely voters behind Public Advocate
Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, said his plan
for policing New York City Housing Authority buildings includes stepping
up police patrols and installing more security cameras.
De Blasio called Bloomberg's fingerprinting idea "outrageous." He also demanded that the mayor apologize to NYCHA residents.RELATED: NYPD SERGEANT: CRIME WILL GO BACK UP WITHOUT STOP AND FRISK
"The mayor's comments that New Yorkers who enter public housing should
be fingerprinted is outrageous and insulting, and shows just how out of
touch this administration has become," he said in a statement. "Mayor
Bloomberg needs to apologize for these remarks."

Ignard Karel Maria ten Have/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The fingerprinting comments
were slammed by Democratic mayoral hopefuls, such as Bill Thompson, who
said they were ‘disrespectful’ to minorities.